James Gurney

This daily weblog by Dinotopia creator James Gurney is for illustrators, plein-air painters, sketchers, comic artists, animators, art students, and writers. You'll find practical studio tips, insights into the making of the Dinotopia books, and first-hand reports from art schools and museums.

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or by email:gurneyjourney (at) gmail.comSorry, I can't give personal art advice or portfolio reviews. If you can, it's best to ask art questions in the blog comments.

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All images and text are copyright 2015 James Gurney and/or their respective owners. Dinotopia is a registered trademark of James Gurney. For use of text or images in traditional print media or for any commercial licensing rights, please email me for permission.

However, you can quote images or text without asking permission on your educational or non-commercial blog, website, or Facebook page as long as you give me credit and provide a link back. Students and teachers can also quote images or text for their non-commercial school activity. It's also OK to do an artistic copy of my paintings as a study exercise without asking permission.

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

A series of paired lines passes through areas of white, grey, and black. The lines remain the same throughout. They have a consistent wavy (sinusoidal) shape.

The difference between the sets is the placement of light and dark segments: one set has the tone change at the bottom of the curve.

As the sets of lines pass through the grey area, some of them seem to take on an angular, zig-zag quality. The effect is extremely compelling.

Psychologist Kohske Takahashi of Chukyo University of Japan discovered the illusion. He suggests that when the brain's visual system is faced with ambiguous cues about whether it's seeing curved or straight-segmented lines, it favors the angular cues:

"The underlying mechanisms for the gentle curve perception and those of obtuse corner perception are competing with each other in an imbalanced way and the percepts of corner might be dominant in the visual system."

Saturday, December 9, 2017

Limn asks:
"Given that you are a huge fan of Howard Pyle (as am I!) there is the principle that he and many illustrators since have talked about. The principle regarding limiting a piece to 2 or 3 (or Loomis' 4) values and having a piece have stopping power from several yards away. However, there are many pictures where this is not the case."

Art by Piotr Jablonski

"I am attaching one such example by Piotr Jablonski (who is PHENOMENAL). He tends to use very heavy shadows and condensed values. So is this an example of what Loomis talks about with a value structure that is low key? Or is this example I have provided simply breaking the Howard Pyle rule? If so, when do you think this is an appropriate strategy/structure to utilize?"

Hi, Limn,
Wow, that is a very striking and memorable image, and you're right: it doesn't really follow the Pyle / Loomis rule. This one is successful, but maybe not so much in a poster-like way. It seems to depend on mystery and suggestion, achieved through gradation and close values. The values are definitely low key as you say, and the image would probably work best when not surrounded by bright white computer screen.

I suppose the lesson here is that the Pyle rule works for making a certain kind of picture, but maybe not for all kinds of pictures. So my advice is to learn all the tricks, be sensitive to how they affect you emotionally, then have them in your toolkit for when you need them.
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Previously: Cure for Middle Value MumblingLoomis's Scheme for Value Organization

Friday, December 8, 2017

Christina asks: "What's the process was like for getting your books Color and Light and Imaginative Realism published? I recently finished a book manuscript...and I don't really have any idea of what to do next. I'd really appreciate any pointers or advice you could give me!"

Max asks: "I have been working on a novel that I would like to turn into an illustrated book. I have no idea how to go about this kind of thing and was hoping for some guidance. You have published many books, so I was hoping to pick your brain about what needs to be done."

Max and Christina, in a nutshell, here's how:

1. Use social media to focus your book idea and to develop a fan base.

2. Develop your book idea to a point that a publisher has enough information to make a decision on it. They need to know that you have a good idea, and they need to trust that you can deliver everything on time. For a nonfiction book, I'd suggest developing at least a comprehensive outline and a sample chapter. For a long-form illustrated novel, I think you'd need at least an outline and 10-20 sample pieces of art. If it's a written novel or a short children's book, and you're both writer and illustrator, you will probably want to have the whole thing completed.

3. Find out which publishers have actually published books similar to what you envision.

4. Study out their submission guidelines, and follow them.

5. Submit your presentation to one publisher at a time, starting with the best candidate. If they reject it, move on to the next one. Take note if they give you any suggestions.

Max, In your case, I'm not sure what you mean by a novel that you want to turn into an illustrated book, but keep in mind that the publisher is usually the one to choose the illustrator, and that commissioning art can get very expensive. In the event you have an illustrator in mind, you might want to try to team up with them and do the book as a Kickstarter project.

Remember: It can be challenging enough to write a book and get it published. But what's even more challenging is getting it distributed, advertised, reviewed, and kept in stock. Doing all that successfully requires a dedicated creative collaboration between the author and the publisher, a commitment that goes far beyond just writing, illustrating, printing, and binding.
---Blog post: [Where I talk about my plans for Color and Light]How About a Book